Weekly update!

Yes, I missed last week’s report, but achievement unlocked, at least a blog post every week so far?

The past one week has been crazy.

I said goodbye to my company and will embarking on a new adventure after Chinese New Year.

I also got the keys to my house on Tuesday (WHICH IS THE PART I’M EXCITED THE MOST ABOUT, CAN YOU TELL???) and with it, all the new homeowner headaches that come with it.

Most of which I got done today.

Paid for the water to be reconnected to the house. Syabas says it’ll take 3 working days, so I’m looking to have running water by next Thursday latest at the house. Applied for the meter to be reconnected to the apartment, this will happen within 3 working days. And then also changed the name on the Cukai Taksiran aka Land Tax with MBPJ. That needs to be paid, but I think I’ll only do it tomorrow.

So yes, HOUSE!!!!!

Which brings me to a relevant tip.

If you are purchasing a home in Malaysia and the home owner has closed both the electricity (Tenaga Nasional) and water (Syabas in Selangor, not sure for other states), make multiple copies of your COMPLETED Sales and Purchase agreement (aka SnP or SPA, depending on what your lawyers use for acronyms).

You will also need copies of your NRIC (if a Malaysian citizen, not sure for foreigners, sorry!). Bring at least RM500 with you in cash, or just RM200 (for Syabas) and a credit card if you don’t want to carry so much money.

I would also recommend taking a full day off.

For Tenaga, aim to be at the Kedai Tenaga by at least 1130am. I was in the New Town branch, and there was a short queue. You can apply online for the power to be reconnected, but I found the offline application to be quite painless. Get a form, fill in, and then show it to the Customer Service Officer. You’ll be submitting the application form, a copy of your NRIC and your SnP.

Hint: if the account is closed, bring along the old account number. That way, when you submit the completed form and your SnP copy, they’ll be able to confirm and let you know the status of the power meter in your new property. Then take the number and wait till they call you.

Remember I said to bring cash or credit card? Once your number’s up, they’ll process your application and take a deposit. This will be dependent on the previous usage of your new house, so they’ll charge you a rough average. Mine was about RM250, and I opted to pay by credit card.

Once you’re done, grab a snack or head over to the 11th floor of Menara MBPJ to change the land tax to your name. You’ll need to submit just your SnP copy and complete the form. Depending on the queue, this can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Mine was done on a Friday, so it took about 20 minutes, mainly because they had to look up the name of the property.

It’ll be about time to break for lunch, so go and have something to eat before you get into the car. Aim to be at Syabas by 3.30pm latest (I went to Jalan Templer). This is where it gets tedious; you’ll need to get a form from the counter, fill it up (and they ask a LOT of questions in that form) and then submit it with your SnP and NRIC copy to the customer service counter. They’ll ask for a witness to sign your document; just ask any customer there to sign for you. They usually will.

The first submission stage is where Syabas’ process annoyed me. The first customer service person flipped through my documents to make sure all the sections were filled, and then asked me to take a seat; her colleague would process the documents first. This was a twenty minute wait as there were a lot of people before me; it seemed that what she was doing (the second colleague) was simply removing the irrelevant sections of the form, double checking my details, and then RESTAPLING everything.

…

Really though, did you really need two copies of everything Syabas, and did you really need to have the customer service person do that when the counter person could? No wonder Syabas loses so much money; this process could have been streamlined in so many ways without incurring as much wastage!

Oh yeah, once she calls out for your number, take it and have seat. This part took about ten minutes; when my number was up, I submitted the document and then paid the deposit, which was only in cash (this is why they have an ATM on the premises). Then I had to wait for them to complete the stamping procedure.

By this time, it was already 4.45 pm, and the doors were closed (Syabas closes at 4.30pm, so you will want to be INSIDE the building before then). Once you’ve collected your stamped copy, you’re good to go. Water services will resume 3 working days after you’ve done everything.

With that, congratulations, you’ve just completed the pre-renovation stage!